The III International Symposium “VIA REGIA – The Cultural Path of the Council of Europe” was held

From October 16 to 18, 2019, the III International Symposium “VIA REGIA – Cultural Path of the Council of Europe” took place in the city of Leipzig (Germany).

Reference:

Via Regia is the name of the oldest and longest land connection between Eastern and Western Europe. Its length is 4500 km. It has existed for over 2,000 years and connects 8 European states. In its modern form, the route exists as the European Transport Corridor C III.

The international network uses the potential of Via Regia as a symbol of the unification of Europe. In 2006, this route was designated as the “Great Cultural Route of the Council of Europe”.

The title “Great Cultural Route of the Council of Europe” is an award given by the Council of Europe to European initiative organizations that rely on the main points and places of great historical importance and act together to protect cultural values, exchange information and experience, new forms of meetings of Europe’s youth, new forms of tourism, a new assessment of unknown cultural heritage objects and form networks for this to work interdisciplinary.

At the end of 2009, the network “Via Regia — the cultural route of the Council of Europe” was officially established. The NGO “Association for the Development of Rural Green Tourism in Ukraine” is also an official member of the network.

In the current phase of creation, the network operates in the following areas:

– its members implement projects related to Via Regia on their own initiative and responsibility;

– members work together on an information and cognitive service portal on the Internet on the topics of history, culture and art, leisure and recreation, attractions, tourism, in order to present to the general public the peculiarities of native culture, and thereby emphasize the diversity and richness of cultures in the European cultural spacious;

– the joint marking of the path with signs is in the testing phase.

The rapid development of VIA REGIA activities related to festivals, cultural exchange and tourism in recent years, many new network members, especially large cities such as Erfurt, Görlitz, Lviv and Leipzig, new ideas for international network projects, old and new challenges work related to VIA REGIA in six participating countries contributed to the organization of another meeting of network members among themselves and with external partners.

Iryna Okolovych, a member of the Board of the Union, participated in the international symposium on behalf of the NGO “Association for the Promotion of Rural Green Tourism in Ukraine” and as part of the Ukrainian delegation.

As part of the event, the city of Leipzig officially joined the Via Regia project, with the presentation of the Council of Europe document “VIA REGIA – Cultural Route of the Council of Europe” to the representatives of the city.

Stefano Domioni, director of the Institute of Cultural Routes and executive secretary of the Expanded Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe (ERA), spoke about the prospects for the development of cultural routes and other cultural programs of international organizations.

The director of the institute in Erfurt, Professor Mathias Gater, presented his research on the Via Regia as a transport route that gives a new impetus to the development of cities and regions.

As part of the event, participants and members of the network had the opportunity to take part in the seminar work of various groups: holidays and events, historical research, exhibitions, work with children and youth, tourism and marketing, in order to exchange experience, identify the main challenges and develop an action plan and network development partner activities.

The participants of the event expressed ideas and wishes regarding new international projects of VIA REGIA. Members of the Ukrainian delegation, inspired by the experience of our foreign partners (from Germany, Poland, Belarus, etc.) directly defined an action plan for the development of the network on the territory of Ukraine, the unification of existing members and the attraction of new members for the purpose of developing culture and tourism in Ukrainian cities and regions .

We thank Leipzig for the wonderful reception of the Ukrainian delegation and the organizers for another productive meeting of members of the Via Regia network!